Part Four of the Christmas in a Word Series

 
THE LONG SILENCE

And so God through the prophets continued to speak of the promised, coming Savior. In fact the Old Testament contains over three hundred prophecies which speak directly of Christ and his coming. Some of these prophecies were crystal clear in their implications. Others remained hidden in meaning until Christ came into the world. All of them are fascinating and together present a powerful testimony to the inspiration of Scripture. The New Testament tells us that “even the angels long to look into these things.” (1 Peter 1:12)

Finally, about four hundred years before the birth of Christ, Malachi gave his prophecy concerning the messenger of the covenant who would come and prepare the way for the Lord – the prophet Elijah who “will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.” (Malachi 4:5-6)

Then, the unimaginable happened. The God who speaks – stopped speaking. There were no more prophecies. There was no further revelation from God. The prophet Amos had proclaimed: “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land — not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.” (Amos 8:11-12) After Malachi’s final prophecy, the famine began. The promises remained for those who would read, study and believe them. But for four long centuries the Word of God remained silent. God finished the Old Testament with a long and emphatic period.

Next: The Silence is Broken